Cruisin' - Mah Birf-Day!

You all would have been so proud.  I woke up super early.  I was laying there thinking about how long it had been since my last workout.  I fumbled my way out of bed.  I put on my workout clothes, grabbed a towel and headed out to find the gym.  I was sure that it would be empty and I could do a quick workout and that would be that.  Oh hells no.  The gym is jam packed.  WITH ALL THESE TOOTHPICK women.  And they are fricking RUNNING on the treadmills.  Geez.  I walked (waddled) my butt right in there, jumped on the only open treadmill and started my workout.  I had my ipod on and I was staring at the sea.  I was gonna OWN it.

Yeah.  Do you know how hard it is to walk on a treadmill while a ship drifts back and forth?  Do you know how silly I looked holding on for dear life while trying to keep upright and walk briskly on this little platform?  Hi-fricking-larious.  But I did it.  And as I entered the elevator to get back to my stateroom, I was a sweaty, icky, mess.  Good Times!

In the room, after my shower, I am looking over the spa/salon menu.  It is formal night (cruise elegant as they like to call it) and I wanted to get something done with my hair.  I have not had a true haircut in almost 7 years.  I usually just ask them to trim my bangs and cut off anything that is dead in the back.  My super cool man friend looks at the menu and says..."call and make an appointment".  Really???  Woohoo!  They say they can get me right in.  So off I go to the salon.

I am greeted by "Ashton". (names changed to protect the innocent, *snort*)  He grasps my hands and leads me to his station.  I have never had a male hairdresser before.  I am all atwitter.  He sat down and actually talked about what I would like and what he thinks would be great and then we compromised.  Once we decided what he was going to do...he shampooed me.  Oh. Mah. Gawd.  Every nerve ending in my entire body tingled when this man massaged my head.  There are no words.  I was just a little puddle in a reclining chair.  After that, I pretty much spaced out.  Once my appointment was over, I floated back to the room and showed off my new "hair did" for the super cool man friend.  I also told him that he needs to learn how to shampoo my hair.  So sensual.

We had some time to go grab some lunch and then we went to our very first Ballroom Dancing lesson.  Now, mind you, the super cool man friend and I have never stepped foot on a dance floor together.  Nor have we even slow danced at home.  This was a completely foreign thing for the two of us as a couple.  We got right in there and within minutes...VOILA!...we were dancing!  Together!  It was so exciting.  He is so smooth on the dance floor and he has a great presence.  I hope we can find some real lessons to take here at home.  We had such a wonderful time and it was a nice workout.

It was really windy so we spent most of the time indoors.  We had taken some MTG Decks with us and a card game and a dice game.  So we scoped out a nice spot where we could sit and play some games and imbibe in the drink of the day.  Some banana concoction.  Yum.  It was quite relaxing.  And he kicked my butt.  Even though it was my birthday.  He kept apologizing every time he would win.  So sweet.

It came time to get ready for formal night.  I did my face and started getting dressed.  Remember how I told you I was going to wear the low cut dress?  I chickened out.  I kept staring in the mirror and all I could see was boobages.  It was freaking me out.  I am just too modest.  I don't know.  I ended up covering them all the way up.  I know he was disappointed, but I just did not feel comfortable.  Later though, as we were walking around doing photographs, I did notice QUITE a few ladies that had it ALL hanging out.  So really, I was just being silly.  But we can't change the past.

So yeah, we went and had our pictures taken at all the little photo opportunities that were set up.  It was fun playing model for a few minutes.  Then we headed to dinner.  We had two new table mates that had defected from their first table because the company was horrible.  We had a good time giving them hell.  The movement of the ship was not as noticeable and we were looking forward to a nice evening.  We made it as far as the arrival of the main course and decided that we were done.  The food.  Again.  So we bid farewell to our table mates and headed back to the room.  We got back into comfortable clothes and strolled about the ship entertaining ourselves.

All in all, it was the BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!  Who could ask for anything more?  Great company, open seas, exotic destinations to look forward to?  Perfect.  I am the luckiest gal in the world.